If Approved, 'Thousands of Children and the Elderly Will Pay the Price for the Mayor's Actions,' Warns CUPE Local 79 President

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - Sept. 13, 2011) - Thousands of Toronto's most vulnerable people and communities will pay the price if City Manager Joseph Pennachetti's Core Service Review recommendations go forward, the President of Canada's largest local union warned today.

"What we saw emerging from City Hall yesterday more than confirms our worst fears," said Ann Dembinski, President of Local 79 of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE 79).

"What we have here is the Ford administration's betrayal of voters' trust. Rob Ford got elected on a promise of no cuts to services," she added.

Dembinski was responding to Monday's report from Pennachetti, which proposes deep cuts to a vast array of cherished services and institutions across the City.

"The Ford administration is arguing that eliminating child care subsidies, gutting affordable housing and shutting down homes for the aged are the solution to a mess the Mayor got us in when he decided to freeze property taxes and eliminate the Vehicle Registration Tax," Dembinski said.

"The Mayor is now twisting his words and saying that these are now 'efficiencies' – not major cuts to services," she added.

Pennachetti's report will go to Council's Executive Committee on September 19th, then to the full City Council for a vote a week later.

"If these recommendations are approved, thousands of children and the elderly will pay the price for this Mayor's actions," she said.